Wednesday, March 28, 2007

The reality behind the relief-vidarbha agrarian crisis DNA watch

1.the state government's door-to-door survey finds a whopping 75 per cent of the 17.64 lakh Vidarbha households involved in cotton farming in crisis. And that's the story of Vidarbha.

2. Vidarbha's agrarian volcano will explode by next Diwali. Relief packages haven't helped.As Sudhir Goyal, Divisional Commissioner (Amravati) observes: "Most won't be able to meet the deadline, and thus would fail to avail the benefit."

3.Meanwhile, the suicide toll in the six districts from January 1, 2007 has crossed 250, according to Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti. The toll was 1047 for 2006. Sadly, nine farmers committed suicide on March 8, better known as Women's Day, and on March 24 as well.

Jaideep Hardikar Thursday, March 29, 2007 01:03 IST

RALEGAON, YAVATMAL: Twenty-year-old Jyoti Kinake would have begun preparations for her marriage by now. Instead, the Gond girl isn't sure if she can ever realise her dream.

On February 17, her father, Shyamrao and brother Vinod, 18, consumed poison. That was only two days before the prospective groom was to come to finalise the marriage alliance.

Shyamrao, who tilled three acres of land, was in debt. And Jyoti's marriage was a worry. The moment he gave in to his tensions and consumed pesticide in his hut, a harried Vinod, his eldest son who shared his burden of loan, did not hesitate to follow his father.

Both became part of the list that now gets an average three to four names added to it every day in Vidarbha.

Farm activists fear Vidarbha's agrarian volcano will explode by next Diwali. Relief packages haven't helped. The government's promise of credit at six per cent rate comes with a rider. Only those who repay loans by March 31 would get the benefit. After that, farmers would pay regular 12-13 per cent interest.

As Sudhir Goyal, Divisional Commissioner (Amravati) observes: "Most won't be able to meet the deadline, and thus would fail to avail the benefit."

Meanwhile, the suicide toll in the six districts from January 1, 2007 has crossed 250, according to Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti. The toll was 1047 for 2006. Sadly, nine farmers committed suicide on March 8, better known as Women's Day, and on March 24 as well.

The suicide rate is declining, claims Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. But Kishor Tiwari of the VJAS counters: "The government is rejecting cases of suicides-due-to-distress, and that is why the official rate of suicides is declining." The rate of rejection grows glaringly after August 2006, Tiwari points out.

A case in point is the suicide by Namdeo Shankar Jichkar in Hatgaon, near Darwha. The 30-year-old killed himself in September, last year. The government enquiry doesn't find Namdeo a farmer at all.

He was not counted as a farmer because the land is still owned by his father and he didn't have bank loans in his name, one of the several criteria to figure in the government lexicon of crisis-driven suicide. So, his suicide is "non-genuine," by the government's logic.

Yet, the state government's door-to-door survey finds a whopping 75 per cent of the 17.64 lakh Vidarbha households involved in cotton farming in crisis. And that's the story of Vidarbha-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------